Businesses can soon apply for licenses to test their own 5G networks, as the National Communications Commission (NCC) is planning to publicize regulations governing privately managed 5G networks in the first quarter this year.
Compared with 4G, 5G networks have a lower latency, higher capacity and increased bandwidth, the commission said.
Aside from consumer-oriented applications, 5G technology offers companies opportunities to create new devices and facilitate their production processes, it added.
The commission has since 2019 allowed companies to test concepts with practical potential on the 4.8 Gigahertz (GHz) to 4.9GHz band.
Since last year, it has received 29 proof-of-concept applications, including from HTC, Panasonic Taiwan, Quanta Computers and Chunghwa Telecom.
Chunghwa Telecom and the Ministry of Economic Affairs have built an independent 5G network in the Start-up Terrace in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口).
Panasonic Taiwan and Quanta Cloud Technology, a subsidiary of Quanta Computers, use their own 5G network to transmit high-definition images that enable assembly line workers at headlight manufacturing plants to install parts more accurately.
In contrast to consumer-oriented networks run by telecoms, companies’ internal 5G networks are not open to the public, NCC Vice Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said yesterday.
“Previously, we gave private companies special permission to test a concept or theory using the frequency band, but in the future they can also obtain a license to access the band,” Wong said.
“The regulations governing the license applications are scheduled to be released in the first quarter of this year, followed by a 60-day public comment period,” he added.
Companies can begin filing applications once the regulations are finalized, he said.
Licenses for private 5G networks would be issued after a review by the NCC commissioners rather than through a public tender, Wong said, adding that band usage fees would be charged from licensed firms.
The commissioners would examine the application based on criteria including coverage, management and security of a private 5G network, as well as the projected bandwidth, Wong said.
Meanwhile, the commission is to subsidize telecoms NT$5.5 billion (US$197.64 million) this year for building 5G base stations.
In November last year, one-and-a-half years after 5G was launched in Taiwan, the nation had about 25,000 base stations, with a service coverage rate of 87 percent and 4.38 million users, or 18.76 percent of the population, NCC data showed.
This compares with 10.08 million 4G users 18 months after that service was launched in 2014, it said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to